Summer Tip: Frugal Laundry

A couple of people here in dirty NYC have asked me for more solid, practical advice for the individual. So here's a nice, clean summer tip:

LAUNDRY: Only use the dryer for towels and sheets. Air-dry the rest of your laundry and your clothing will last years longer. If you have a backyard and can line-dry, you don't need this advice. And before you say laundromat: I've wheeled wet clothes back a few blocks in my time. It's great exercise. Go to Home Depot and get a cheap wooden clothes rack or do what I do: put your wet clothing on hangers and hang on the shower rail. As a friend once told me: "the laundromat boils your clothing and then fries it." You can use those metal trouser hangers with clips for skirts, jeans and other trousers: just turn the clothing inside out so you don't get the indentation of the clips on the waistband. I started doing this when I had to keep throwing stuff out because they came out of the dryer looking like a five year-old's. I knew my legs weren't getting longer! Now my clothing lasts for years, retains its colour and I don't have to get thinner with every wash. For heavy cotton or linen or items you must iron: iron them inside out when they're wet, shake them out to unflatten them and then hang them on the hanger by the waist band to allow the edges to dry.

It sounds like a huge time-waster, but it's not at all. First of all, if you're going to the laundromat you're spending all afternoon there anyway because you've stockpiled your dirties. Why not get some exercise running back to the apartment with the wet stuff while the towels and sheets are in the dryer? You can squash it into a back pack and pretend you're a navy SEAL on circuit training. Or you can put your towels and sheets in for a service wash and spend only the time it takes to put in a wash or two, which actually cuts down the time it takes.

Years ago, I got an apartment with laundry facilities and never looked back. This is a huge long-term money saver for renters and if you only dry towels and sheets, you'll save extraordinary amounts of money on your electricity bill. In the winter, those with steam heat can put their wet towels on the radiators to add moisture for a cheap humidifier.

More important, this takes money out of the hands of dry cleaners that ruin your clothing and take no responsibility for it. The last time I got a pair of trousers dry cleaned, they put a hole in the outside of the trouser leg. Their excuse? "It's the fabric." I was flabbergasted. I think there should be a special place in hell for dry cleaners: I hope they spend eternity in the laundromat.